conditions. An immediate question raised by the flight resuhs was, 

 "Whatever happened to the 800 bergs located in early November 

 1962 from Hudson Strait entrance to Cape Dyer, Baflin Island?" 

 They had literally if not actually vanished. A ready answer is re- 

 vealed by the U.S. Weather Bureau November and December 1962 

 monthly mean sea level barometric charts. Both charts and also 

 the mid-December to mid-January chart indicate average strong 

 offshore winds during the period. The major portion of the 1963 

 Grand Banks iceberg crop had probably been driven eastward out of 

 the south-moving Labrador Current into warmer waters and been 

 removed as a threat to the Grand Banks. A couple of these bergs 

 were subsequently sighted on Ocean Station Bravo near 56° N., 

 51° W., in late March, having been driven south from between Labra- 

 dor and Greenland by strong northerly winds in March. 



A second aerial iceberg survey was conducted along the coast of 

 Labrador to Frobisher and return on 13-14 March 1963. See figure 

 19. A total of 119 bergs were located south of Cape Chidley, with 

 an estimated 20 bergs not sighted due to limited visibility in some 

 areas and 10 bergs south and east of the flight coverage. There were 

 120 bergs counted near Hudson Strait entrance, but the visibility was 

 poor here and it is estimated there were several more bergs in this area. 

 Those bergs just north of Cape Chidley in mid-January had drifted 

 to a position just northeast of Hamilton Inlet, a distance of about 

 460 miles in 60 days for an average drift rate of 7.6 miles per day. 

 Average surface winds were estimated unfavorable for southward 

 berg drift along the Labrador coast in January and favorable from 

 early February to mid-March, or favorable during the period be- 

 tween surveys. 



An analysis of the information obtained from the two northern 

 iceberg surveys combined with results from the seasonal International 

 Ice Patrol flights enabled the following determinations for the 1963 

 berg crop: 



1. The few bergs that crossed south of 48° N. drifted at an average 

 rate of 7.6 miles per day from mid-January to mid-March. During 

 the last half of March and early April, these bergs drifted from just 

 north of Hamilton Inlet at an average rate of 18 miles per day under 

 very favorable winds, for an overall average rate of 9 miles per day 

 from Cape Chidley to the Grand Banks. 



2. The traveltime of the above group of bergs from Hudson Strait 

 entrance to the Grand Banks was about 3}^ months. 



3. Many of the bergs in the vicinity of Hudson Strait entrance in 

 mid-March arrived off Belle Isle in late May for an average drift 

 rate of 8.5 miles per day. Only a couple of these bergs were able to 

 make it to just north of the Grand Banks at the end of June for an 

 average drift rate of 8.6 miles per day and a traveltime of 3^ months 



35 



